Johnsfolly

So this weekend we were hit with a bad storm yesterday, high winds, rain then sleet, then blinding snow, then back to high winds. Today it's clear but still cold and until about an hour ago windy again. We just hunkered down and did little. I went through some photos from last weekend and early this week to post a fishing report. I took off Monday and Tuesday and had plans to fish a few spots since the weather was decent. The first trip was to piggyback a birding trip with fishing. Livie and Sue got me a pair of nice Nikon binoculars and gave them to me Friday night knwoing that I would want to take them with us on Saturday. They were and are great and we used them a lot already. Prior to this first trip, I have been talking with a couple of guys here in MD that have collected different sculpins around the state. Having never caught a sculpin in MD so far, I found some locations based off of their information and one spot was about 8 miles up the road from the birding location. Livie and I donned waders and got into the stream to dip baits around any boulders and structure that could hold sculpin. I did not have my polarized sunglasses so I had to decide to either stick with water I could see bottom or to fish by feel. After 10 to 15 mins, I put my bait into a hole made up of a log and two boulders. I didn't have to worry about seeing the bite since it hit it hard and I had my first ever blue ridge sculpin in hand and in the bag. Livie tried that same spot and a few others in that first pool and then along the rocky bank, but nothing. We didn't even see other fish. We decided to hit the rocks at the tail of another pool. I found an eastern blacknose dace and got it to bite, none of the photos were any good. Livie got a bite from a similar setup as I had upstream. However, she failed to set the hook. She put the bait again near that same hole and we both saw the sculpin come out and take the bait. So in 35 mins we had caught only three fish, but we both caught lifer sculpins 😁! Later that afternoon I fished a mountain creek and only caught more eastern blacknose dace. Monday we pond fished. We went to the pond near us that usually has decent crappie and bluegill. We fish it now since later in the year it is covered with lilies and practically unfishable. We were fishing trout magnets under a float. I had on a pink headed jig with a green body with a black back. Livie had a silver jig head with a white and chartreuse body. We started at a spot near the parking lot where we normally get bigger crappie. The drill is pretty simple, cast out near the weed edge and give the bait a coule of short pulls and let it sit, then repeat until you catch one or get to a spot of unproductive water. I caught a few bluegill at this spot but Livie didn't catch any. She went to our next spot and lost a crappie right at the bank. I caught one more bluegill and joined her. She switched to a piece of worm on the jigs and caught a couple bluegill and a fiesty little bass, but only when she put the bait within the lily field. I caught a couple more bluegill and a decent golden shiner before the rain came and we left. We didn't get out one more time like I had hoped but all in all we had fun fishing my long weekend. Can't wait until we have less dramatic weather changes to be able to get back out again!

We have a .308 and .243 that both kill deer. But they don't get out much anymore. Been hunting private land in MO before we left and now here in MD where they don't want rifles used. So it has been about 9 years since I have shot a deer with the .308 and Sue was the last to use the .243 eight years ago. (Thought Pete might read this post so added a photo 😅) - We have a bunch of ammo for both and for our .22 rifles.

What a difference a day makes or in this case a change in cut of meat. As old folks we like chicken cordon bleu. We have always butterflied the breast for this dish. Lately we have been buying thighs. I prefer them to breasts for most dishes. Finally tried them in cordon Bleu last night. I butterflied the thicker side of the thigh so it would cook evenly. Breaded and baked the thighs first in the oven (instead of pan frying) then topped open faced with the Swiss and ham. Back into oven for another 10 mins. Once done topped it with a white sauce with brown mustard added. Best cordon Bleu that I have had. Looks like a keeper from now on.

One would think that the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald would be the song that I think of after listening to Sundown but it's this one Just an old Sap😅

@bfishn Spooky got me thinking about a Bard's song

Hey Ryan don't feel bad. Happens to us all😉

We had a guy in our fraternity that had an issue with his humerus that left his right arm probably about 2 to 3 inches shorter than his left. You really could tell when he had both elbows on the table and his head on his hands. Since his forearms were the same length his right shoulder would noticeably dip. Just thinking now that he would be a terrible fisherman if he always held his fish for photos with his right hand 😅

Good luck with your fishing and can't wait to see results from those tournaments in your reports 😉. Make sure that you try to have photos. Lots of us like seeing the fish if it is safe to get a quick photo and if it doesn't give away too much information. Helps to tell the story.

Catching a 10 lb bass to some is like shooting a 140" plus class whitetail. Especially for folks like out this way where 6 lb bass are pretty rare. Lots of folks pay $5K or more for that chance. I wouldn't do it but understand the thought behind it.

So you don't know either🤣

Hey @Phil Lilley What's the deal with the badges? How many are there and what are the triggers for each?

It stuck with him as well 🤣

Need to get advice from @Terrierman or @grizwilson

I agree especially when there is more than one treble on a bait and that fish is thrashing around. It can be a nightmare of potential hook removal points on your hands, arms, legs....

What's the difference between beer nuts and deer nuts? Beer nuts are $1.75 and deer nuts are just under a buck🤣!

We have never looked back to getting caramel colored corn syrup (band name here). We have lately been getting NY maple syrup and not vermont. It's what our Amish market carries. Not quite as good, but decent and not overly priced.

I love bluegill. Also like 11.5" LMB. Never caught a lot of white bass or walleye, but do catch a few crappie. I really like my breading mix and our homemade tartar sauce😁. So don't mind a mess of those white flaky fish😉.

Sounds delicious. We don't have white bass out this way. We get runs of their smaller cousin, the white perch. They may be getting ready to run the creeks here. The yellow perch runs so far this year have been spotty. So I hope not the same with the whites.

I frequently add these when having oatmeal and cream of wheat. Delicious!

Ryan just a warning. We don't talk about politics, COVID, religion and the taste and preparations of white bass and hybrids on this forum.😉🤣

We were Farina Cream of Wheat elitists🤣

Starting to see reports of folks getting their gas tanks siphoned and the parts stealing. Be careful.

Congrats on another successful day! You're killing it Jeff!

Another Minn ice fisherman catches a gold fish, this time it's a sunfish. Possibly a bluegill. It would be interesting if they could video survey the lakes just to see how common these gold sunfish and crappie really are in these lakes. We used to see 1 to 2 channel catfish out of 200 to 300 that we would bring in for testing. For our Xenopus frogs it's more like 5+ per 200 tadpoles. https://www.outdoorlife.com/fishing/golden-bluegill-minnesota/

I tried that forum after the North American Hunting Club Forum shut down. Hated it and just never went back.